fables

The third issue of Everafter continues the Fables spin-off’s opening arc with a twist. Remember the death of Connor Wolf which punctuated the end of the previous issue? Well, turns out the newbie spy isn’t dead. Having switched places by morphing into one of the heist crew, Connor is able to report back to The Shadow Players about the team of thieves stealing powerful Native American artifacts from museums all over the world. The trouble for Connor, however, is despite his ability to transform into any person or creature, he doesn’t gain that person’s knowledge or intelligence and, of course, is eventually found out.

The new Fables series continues as as Peter Piper and an injured Bo Peep return home without their prize, the out-of-control young girl who is bending reality in strange and macabre ways, and the body of one of their own. Given the situation, Connor Wolf is pressed into service earlier than intended. However, if the comic’s last panel is any indication, his career as a Shadow Player may be short-lived indeed.

Fables may be completed, but it seems there are still stories left to tell. Taking place in a world where magic runs rampant and no longer has to hide, Everafter #1 introduces us to The Shadow Players (network of both Fable and mundane agents tasked with policing a newly enchanted world). The first issue gives us a trio of Shadow Players (Bo Peep, Hansel, and Peter Piper) searching a zombie-infested train station for a “package” their boss wants found. Things get even more interesting with one member of the team chooses his own agenda over the mission.

Offering a brief interlude to the rising tensions between sisters, Fables #147 takes Rose Red back home to the house she grew-up in and offers her the opportunity to choose a peaceful path in nature rather than continue the road to war begun so many issues ago. Although momentarily tempted, Rose chooses forbidden knowledge

As the race towards sisterly civil war moves closer, Rose Red and Bellflower step-up in an attempt to kill the out-of-control Bigby who neither realizes is being controlled by the unseen hand of a powerful sorceress. Although the pair make for a formidable team, they are unsuccessful in Fabletown’s second attempt to stop the half-crazed monster.

Along with the continuation of Reynard‘s storyline in which Meghan discovers the truth about her new lover while on the run, Fairest #30 features multiple mysteries on the Farm where Clara and Wilfred are on the case to discover who stole one of the Glamours from the Pumpkin House before the lottery, why someone would vandalize the Beehive, and just how the two cases are connected.

Still unaware that the recently resurrected Bigby is being controlled by an outside force, the pair of Ozma (dressed like teen superhero) and Beast housed in the Big Damn Golden Armor) set out to stop him. Along with a giant castle appearing in the middle of Manhattan, the resulting chaos creates one of the funniest lines of the series as a New York cop exclaims “What in the bloody fuckhole of America is going on here?”

Continuing to gear up the end of the series, the return of Bigby Wolf creates new problems in Fables #143. Unaware that the feral creature is being controlled by the mysterious woman whose true motives have yet to be revealed, the out-of-control Bigby is slowly leaking magic into the outside world destabilizing the illusions that keep Fabletown hidden.

Continuing to mirror the events in Fables as both series move towards their end, Fairest #28 offers more of the animal uprising on The Farm where the non-human creatures demand the glamours promised to them. The creation of a handful of glamours chosen by lottery passifies the angry mob (at least for now).

While those behind the scenes, including Maddy, continue to push Fabletown into a war between Rose Red and Snow White, including a spell which puts the two women in off-setting pairs of magical armor, White is far more concerned with the news that an out-of-control Bigby has been sighted in the Mundy world. In a world where symbolism matters far more than it does it ours, it is important to notice Snow White is cast in the black armor suggesting (at least in the view of the person behind the spell) that she has apparently been cast as the villain in Fabletown‘s downfall.